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First woman takes helm at Air Force Academy

Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson took over the reigns of the Air Force Academy during a Change of Command Ceremony on Monday, August 12, 2013. The outgoing Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael Gould is retiring after 37 years in the Air Force. Johnson is the first female to be Superintendent at the Air Force Academy. Lt. Gen. Johnson is addressing the media after the ceremony. (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

A 1981 graduate of the academy, Johnson remains in lore as one of the top female athletes to ever play there. She remains the second all-time leading scorer for the women's basketball team.

She rode her academy degree to Oxford Englandf or a master's in politics and economics as a Rhodes Scholar and has climbed steadily through the Air Force ranks while logging 3,600 hours at the controls of tanker aircraft and transport planes.

She came to the academy from her post at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, where she served as its top planner for operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

She's hoping to turn that experience into lessons for cadets on how America works with its allies in modern wars.

In a speech to a crowd of brass and the school's 4,000 cadets, Johnson said she wants cadets to understand the global influence of the Air Force and to understand that its capabilities are balanced on the shoulders of sergeants and airmen.

"We as officers really have to be on our game to lead them the way they deserve," she said.

Much of the ceremony was spent heaping praise on the man Johnson replaced.

Gould was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his four years at the academy, and the Air Force's top general choked up while describing the outgoing superintendent.

"He loves the people he leads and he stands for something," Gen. Mark Welsh said of Gould.

During his speech, Welsh pardoned cadets in trouble for minor infractions and regulatory breaches.

"You major offenders are still screwed," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Johnson, though, has no immediate plans for the cadets. She attended the academy and later taught there, but said she needs to reconnect with the place before shaking things up.

"I have a lot of listening to do and a lot of learning to do," she said.

While her taking command as the academy's first female superintendent is a landmark, it's not one that Johnson is likely going to memorialize.

"We're not dwelling on it," she said.

Instead, she says that America's willingness to blaze new trails and give everyone a shot at greatness is what people should remember about a woman taking the helm.